2006 Scholarships

It's the beginning of the new year, and one of my resolutions is to encourage more people to submit responses to these $50 monthly mini scholarship competitions. Towards that end, I would like to experiment with this month's scholarship. Instead of posting a topic similar to one found on an MBA admissions application, I would like to make this month's topic based on GMAT AWAs.

Thus, this month, I will be posting an Analysis of Argument essay topic, pulled straight from the official list of AWAs published by GMAC. I will award the $50 scholarship to the person who I think submits the best essay response according to what I believe are the guidelines by which GMAC grades these essays, AND award you a score along with some feedback.

I really hope many of you will submit essays. AWAs are something that you should practice anyway, so why not get paid while doing it?

Here's this month's topic:

The following appeared as part of an annual report sent to stockholders by Olympic Foods, a processor of frozen foods.

“Over time, the costs of processing go down because as organizations learn how to do things better, they become more efficient. In color film processing, for example, the cost of a 3-by-5-inch print fell from 50 cents for five-day service in 1970 to 20 cents for one-day service in 1984. The same principle applies to the processing of food. And since Olympic Foods will soon celebrate its twenty-fifth birthday, we can expect that our long experience will enable us to minimize costs and thus maximize profits.”

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.

Please review these rules to determine whether you are eligible to participate in this scholarship opportunity. The prize is a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate; one winner will be selected by me and announced in early March. Please submit your essay by end of day, February 28. (Please see response below--I am extending the deadline for submission by one more month)

Best of luck, and I look forward to reading all of your responses...